In Parliament
Motion: Sessional Orders
MOTION
‘SESSIONAL ORDERS.’
Wednesday, 29 November 2023.
Mr NEWBURY (Brighton) (10:41):
Deputy Speaker, I too thank you for your role in the work that we are considering now and also the other Members of the Committee and the Clerks, who did an incredible job.
Reforming the Standing Orders is a hard job. It is a hard job for the Parliament to come together and work out points of agreement. What we are considering now is what you would probably call the very, very non-contentious parts of the Sessional Orders that can be included in the Standing Orders – things that all of us recognise as normal parts of our day and the operation of our day and the operation of subsets of our day. What is being included is not controversial in that regard.
I would note just for the record that there is one inclusion, Number 18, in relation to the disallowing of pandemic orders and the requirements for a Joint Sitting.
Just on the record I note that this House of course has autonomy in terms of processes to set up that Joint Sitting, but the Council is yet to do that and set up that process. A number of Council Members have noted that that process does not exist in their place in terms of that Joint Sitting. So, though this House has ultimate capacity to set up its own mechanisms to do things, that is lacking in terms of the Council process.
Again, I acknowledge the work of all of those involved and do hope that next year we can start looking further at the Standing Orders in good faith and that we can actually start to work through some of those standing orders in a non-political way. I am a little nervous about it, but I have a genuine hope that we can do that in good faith.